Route: 298 the time has come By George

Today was the turn of South Mimms based company Sullivan Buses to takeover route 298 which was previously operated by Arriva London (WN). So I met Up with other LTBG members Rhys,Dave and Caleb to witness Sullivan's first proper TFL contracted route

298 Sullivan Buses (SM) AE12 DS61 SUL Arnos Grove

The route: 298 was created in September 1968 as a replacement for part of route 29.
The route ran from Turnpike Lane Station  to Cranbourne Road Industrial Estate on weekdays and on to South Mimms on Saturdays. Some journeys were extended to Clare Hall Hospital or Borehamwood.


Then in 1970 the route was altered to stop at Cockfosters and extended to Manor House and then further changes 
10 years later in 1980 the route was altered again and extended to Cranbourne Road Industrial Estate in Potters Bar, and some services continuing to South Mimms, replacing the original Route 299. This coincided with the extension of  route 121 to share the Southgate to Turnpike Lane section of route 298.

The operation of route 298 passed to London Country  in 1986, and to London County North East  in September 1986 following London Country's division into four subsidiaries.Two years later, the route was won by Grey Green (now part of Arriva) as part of the Privation of London's Buses In 1990 the Turnpike Lane to Southgate section was removed from the route So this was replaced By route: 121 for the southgate - Turnpike Lane journeys. Soon Capital Citybus were to run the route as Grey Green were struggling to run it.

The 298 route was diverted in 1997 to run through Potters Bar Station  and the operator once again changed, this time to Arriva  In 2002, the Potters Bar to South Mimms section was withdrawn (being replaced by the new route 398) and the other end of the route was extended to Arnos Grove Station via Waterfall Road.


Arriva Operation:

298 Arriva London (WN) VLW32 VLT32 Arnos Grove

Below is the cadets allocated to the 298 before the takeover:

298 Arriva London (WN) DWL55 LF52 UTA Arnos Grove

Interior View AE12 Betstyle circus

298 Sullivan Buses (SM) AE12 DS61 SUL Potters Bar Rail Station

A highlight about these WTA E200s is that Sullivan Buses have personalised them to the drivers initials and the Sullivan buses name at the end for example Jack Portman JP61 and then Sullivan Buses SUL so

JP61 SUL.

298 Sullivan Buses (SM) AE12 DS61 SUL Potters Bar Station

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